04/30/04

4/30 Went to Hollywood Park on way to airport was up about $50 at one point. Got to airport & found out I was confused about the time, pushed me back until tomorrow. Went back to HP & lost almost all my winnings

04/28/04

4/28 Went to the Bicycle Casino w/ Kev & Linda. The hospitality hostess knew Kev & treated us all to dinner. Which is good, since I lost about $38 (of $50 buy-in) playing 2/4 HE. Got dealt several pocket pairs, but didn't win w/ any of them. 2nd hand 3 people flopped a set, mine was bottom, of course.

04/22/04

[...] After that, headed to Casino Europa to play in another tournament. Bang, Chad, Paul, Trang, John & Shane from the other day/night were there. I didn't make it as far tonight but I found out I was sitting next to a former World Champ, Jose Rosencranz. Bang & John Hickox made it to the final table & both were knocked out on the same hand by Rosencranz. Bang made his flush, but the same card made a full house for J.R. Bang & Chad said they went on the same whitewater trip I'm going on tomorrow & that it was fun. Looking forward to it...

04/20/04

Woke up early & ate, arranged to take in the rainforest canopy cable run. Fun & the forest is impressive. Can now say, "Been there, done that, got the CD". Had a salad & an iced drink at lunch, hope that wasn't a mistake. Decided to start writing this down while i figure out what to do tonight. Hit a casino or two, maybe. [Later] One casino, 2 tries to get there, as it turns out. First, they took me to the Europa Hotel, which has a casino, but not the one I was looking for, and no poker. Fortunately, the actual location (Radisson Hotel), wasn't far away. When I got there, I ran into two guys I met on the canopy tour, Chad & Bang(?). Bang had mentioned he played & that his sister had moved to CR w/ her boyfriend, who also played. They told me there was a $10 buyin NL Hold'em tournament and they were entered. Decided I could afford to spend $10 on poker. Wound up spending $70 after all the rebuys, but made it to the final table and placed 6th, which paid $142, so I doubled my money! I stuck to my game plan, played tight, for the most part, and made as few mistakes as possible. I think I could have gotten more money out of some of my winning hands by slow playing a little more, I probably folded at least one winning hand (pocket Jacks) when an opponent went all in, and I never truly bluffed. Bang's sister's boyfriend Paul was a cool guy who knew his poker, he reassured me that I played well. He said they'd be back there Thurs. Got back to the hotel, checked email from their mini cyber cafe, sent poker reports to Kevin & Nick, talked computers w/ the night desk clerk. I need to move to another hotel, but I don't want to waste the day waiting to check in somewhere else, and I don't want to haul my luggage around all day either.